By April 27, 1903, reports had confirmed that 84 African Americans had been lynched in the United States within that year alone—making 1903 one of the most violent years of the early 20th century in terms of racially motivated terror. These brutal acts, largely carried out by white mobs in the South, were rarely prosecuted. The widespread use of lynching served as a tool of racial intimidation and white supremacy, especially in the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow era.

Despite this violence, 1903 also marked growing resistance. Black leaders like Ida B. Wells, who had been documenting lynchings since the 1890s, intensified their advocacy and publishing efforts, exposing the lies often used to justify such atrocities. These records helped lay the foundation for later civil rights campaigns, showing the necessity of legal reform, federal anti-lynching laws, and public accountability.